Publications

Stranded gas is natural gas in discovered fields that is currently not commercially producible for either physical or economic reasons. This study examines stranded gas from Russia and Central Asia and the role it can play in addressing Europe’s growing demand for imported natural gas requiring additional volumes of gas in excess of 130 trillion cubic feet. We find sufficient volumes of stranded g

Coal exploration drill-hole data from over 24,000 wells in 10 States are discussed by State in the chapters of this report, and the data are provided in an accompanying spreadsheet. The drill holes were drilled between 1962 and 1984 by Phillips Coal Company, a division of Phillips Petroleum Company (Phillips). The data were donated to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in 2001 by the North American

Volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits, also known as volcanic-hosted massive sulfide, volcanic-associated massive sulfide, or seafloor massive sulfide deposits, are important sources of copper, zinc, lead, gold, and silver (Cu, Zn, Pb, Au, and Ag). These deposits form at or near the seafloor where circulating hydrothermal fluids driven by magmatic heat are quenched through mixing with bottom water

We examined mercury exposure in 133 endangered California clapper rails (Rallus longirostris obsoletus) within tidal marsh habitats of San Francisco Bay, California from 2006 to 2010. Mean total mercury concentrations were 0.56 μg/g ww in blood (range: 0.15–1.43), 9.87 μg/g fw in head feathers (3.37–22.0), 9.04 μg/g fw in breast feathers (3.68–20.2), and 0.57 μg/g fww in abandoned eggs (0.15–2.70)

The emerging global focus on the oil and gas potential of the Arctic underscores the importance of understanding petroleum systems with limited data. Geohistory modeling of Arctic Alaska (including the Chukchi shelf) and the southern Canada basin indicates that regional patterns of thermal maturity and timing of petroleum generation reflect geologic processes associated with rift-opening of the Can

Tidal marsh restoration projects that cover large areas are critical for maintaining target species, yet few large sites have been studied and their restoration trajectories remain uncertain. A tidal marsh restoration project in the northern San Francisco Bay consisting of three breached salt ponds (≥300 ha each; 1175 ha total) is one of the largest on the west coast of North America. These diked

In this chapter, we describe the hydrothermal diamond-anvil cell (HDAC), which is specifically designed for experiments on systems with aqueous fluids to temperatures up to ~1000ºC and pressures up to a few GPa to tens of GPa. This cell permits optical observation of the sample and the in situ determination of properties by ‘photon-in photon-out’ techniques such as Raman spectroscopy. Several meth

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) held a workshop titled “CO2 Sequestration in Unconventional Reservoirs” at the National Conservation Training Center, Shepherdstown, West Virginia, USA, on March 28th – 29th, 2012. Currently the USGS National Geologic Carbon Sequestration Assessment estimates potential subsurface storage volumes only in the existing pore spaces of sandstones, limestones, and dolos

Evaluation of resources such as tight sands and gas shales requires the formulation of assessment models that are different from those used for the inference of conventional resources. Formulations in present use are based in classical statistics that ignore the partly organized and partly random geographical variation of attributes related to the occurrence of hydrocarbons. This paper is the thir

Cobalt-copper ± gold deposits of the Idaho cobalt belt, including the deposits of the Blackbird district, have been analyzed for their sulfur, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen isotope compositions to improve the understanding of ore formation. Previous genetic hypotheses have ranged widely, linking the ores to the sedimentary or diagenetic history of the host Mesoproterozoic sedimentary rocks, to Meso

The Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in southeastern Pennsylvania, which features an Fe smelter that was operational in the 18th and 19th centuries, is dominated by three slag piles. Pile 1 slag, from the Hopewell Furnace, and pile 2 slag, likely from the nearby Cornwall Furnace, were both produced in cold-blast charcoal-fired smelters. In contrast, pile 3 slag was produced in an anthracite

Determination of the size of the gas emission zone, the locations of gas sources within, and especially the amount of gas retained in those zones is one of the most important steps for designing a successful methane control strategy and an efficient ventilation system in longwall coal mining. The formation of the gas emission zone and the potential amount of gas-in-place (GIP) that might be availa